Aliyah: a Dream Come True or... Booby Prize?
Tue., January 11, 2005 Shvat 1, 5765
The eternally open gate
By Avi Beker
According to media reports in Israel and Germany, representatives of Israel and the Jewish Agency have made diplomatic efforts in the past year to prevent the migration of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Germany. This is happening during a period in which the number of emigrants of Jewish descent opting to go to Germany is double that of emigrants heading for Israel.
The emigrants, most of whom lack Jewish background and education, prefer Germany, where they receive financial benefits and a peaceful environment, over a more difficult life in Russia or Ukraine, or, as they see it, Israel. It is a painful twist of Jewish history that 60 years after the Holocaust, Germany has been the world's fastest growing Jewish community over the past decade.
The massive migration to Germany is hurtful to the traditional Zionist perception and the needs of Israel as a Jewish state, which will find itself facing a demographic dilemma even after the disengagement and withdrawal from most of the Palestinian population areas. The adoption of secret diplomatic efforts demonstrates the discomfort of working more openly and actively to regulate emigration from the former Soviet Union and transform it into immigration to Israel.
At a time when Jews are battling phenomena such as discrimination and anti-Semitism, it is hard to wage a public struggle to restrict the freedom of migration of Jews around the world. On the other hand, there is historic legitimacy for the argument posed by Jewish Agency leaders that now that there is a Jewish state we cannot agree to the migration of Jews - particularly not to Germany - on the basis of a refugee quota.
It should be recalled that historically speaking, both before and after the establishment of the State of Israel, immigration to Israel represented a small component of Jewish migration trends. The vast majority of immigrants to Israel did so as refugees fleeing persecution and distress. As immigrants, they chose Israel as the fallback choice when other options were closed to them.
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haaretz.com |
